Psalms 74:2

Remember thy congregation - The word rendered “congregation” means properly an “assembly,” a “community,” and it is frequently applied to the Israelites, or the Jewish people, considered as a body or a community associated for the service of God. Exodus 12:3; Exodus 16:1, Exodus 16:9; Leviticus 4:15; Numbers 27:17. The word used by the Septuagint is συναγωγή sunagōgē - synagogue - but refers here to the whole Jewish people, not to a particular synagogue or congregation.

Which thou hast purchased of old - In ancient times; in a former age. That is, Thou hast “purchased” them to thyself, or as thine own, by redeeming them from bondage, thus securing to thyself the right to them, as one does who redeems or purchases a thing. See the notes at Isaiah 43:3.

The rod of thine inheritance - Margin, as in Hebrew, “tribe.” The Hebrew word - שׁבט shêbet - means properly “a staff,” stick, rod; then, a shepherd’s staff, a crook; then, a scepter; and then it is used to denote a “tribe,” so called from the staff or scepter which the chief of the tribe carried as the symbol of authority. Exodus 28:21; Judges 20:2. The word “inheritance” is frequently applied to the children of Israel considered as belonging to God, as property inherited belongs to him who owns it - perhaps suggesting the idea that the right to them had come down, as inherited property does, from age to age. It was a right over them acquired long before, in the days of the patriarchs.

Which thou hast redeemed - By delivering them out of Egyptian bondage. So the church is now redeemed, and, as such, it belongs to God.

This mount Zion - Jerusalem - the seat of government, and of public worship - the capital of the nation.

Wherein thou last dwelt - By the visible symbol of thy presence and power. - On all these considerations the psalmist prays that God would not forget Jerusalem in the present time of desolation and trouble.